Advice on computer purchase

[Superboy]

I'm looking to buy a new computer but I'm not really sure what the value of individual parts is. I don't know much about which video cards are the best or which motherboards will give the best performance, or anything else really.

I originally was planning on buying the parts and building it myself because I assumed I could get a better deal that way, but after a bit of research, I'm not sure that's true. Are pre-built rigs usually more expensive?

The pre-built rig I'm looking at now is this HP from costco. Will this be able to run all new games at decent settings? Could I get a better deal if I built it myself? I realize that most of the price from that rig is because of the monitor, but does anyone have any estimate on what it would cost to build a similar rig without the monitor?

[General Zod]

That's not a bad deal if you don't want to build your own. But really the main things you have to factor in these days is how much time you want to spend waiting on the components to get to you if you're comfortable enough putting it together yourself. (Although I'd be weary about getting anything with an ATI video card tbh).

[Dominus Atheos]

It's important to mention which currency the price is in, and which country you need it shipped to. $1400 is way to much to pay for that box, but $1175 is much better.

No, that 3650 won't play most modern games, especially at 1920 x 1200 which is the recommended resolution for that monitor. The best deal you're going to get in Canada is this and this.

As for building your own, throwing together a system on Canadian Newegg, a system with:

• 4gbs of ram
• An e8500
• A 4850
• Case w/ power supply
• Mobo
• Mouse/Keyboard/Speaker combo

Comes to $775 Canadian. You should be able to pay a local computer repair shop 50 bucks to put it together for you. You can buy another hdd for it, or just pull out your old one and stick it in the new one (you'll have to format it). Canadian Newegg doesn't have a very good selection of operating systems, but Canadian TigerDirect has a 64-bit operating system for $142.

[Aorus]

NCIX.com has very similar or better prices compared to newegg, and you might save on shipping, depending where you live, since it's a BC-based company. I would also recommend doing a bit of research to find a good-quality PSU and not a generic one bundled with the case.

[bozazz]

HP generally makes pretty decent computers. I've had mine for 4 years now and it runs pretty well, so last year I brought a new one. But with any pre-built computers it seems to me they put in the cheapest parts possible. For instance I thought my HP was pretty powerful, though when I tried to upgrade it last month to play fallout 3, I found out that it didn't have any more slots for ram and not enough power for a faster video card. If you build it yourself at least you can take into account future upgrades and buy parts that will allow you the room to grow in the future. To me that seems like a better deal, one which I will probably take in a few years time. Cheers

[Superboy]

Thanks for the advice guys. The only reason I really wanted a new computer was so that I could play newer games, and if that HP rig won't be able to play all modern games, it's not for me. I guess I will end up building my own after all.